Grimgamer's page

Sorry I got off the listening at doors topic.

who cares who rolls what when listening at a door. Either you plan on opening it or not.
If you hear something behind a door, what do you do... ready actions and either open the door or not.
If you don't hear something behind a door what do you do? you either ready actions and open it or you don't.

Everyone in a group - specially- in a dungeon advent should have a position and role they use each and everytime 'they' initiate door contact or are even moving down a passage.

Once the action starts all the planning in the world usually goes out the window and it turns into a semper fi moment anyway.

The only real thing a successful "listen" check at a door allows is prep time. And most of your casters don't want to waste alot of spells prepping at a door without truely needing it. wasting a handful of spells once at a door will almost certainly come into question the next time you hear something behind any future doors.

In that case maybe you should always just considier going through doors in a particualr order left right and strait, and never use prep spells until you "Know" what you are dealing with. Then just roll in and clear the room asap.

You're problem about Meta-Gaming hits everyone eventually. The best secret is to find a DM who either fully encourages your min/maxing and builds adventures to suit.
Or play a game where Min/Maxing just doesn't matter. ie.. a good DM who rolls all opposed checks secretly and seems to hand out information fairly. The only rolls a player should make are to hits, damage and of course saves directed from outside the party.
All of this requires a DM who runs a good story and is at least somewhat trusted. If you think your DM is out to kill you no matter what you do, just fail all your saves on purpose and watch them scramble. either to replace your spot at the table or if enough players die your DM should get the idea.

If your DM seems too over-powered all the time and you don't feel like you're even somewhat "heroic" in your game than you need to take a hard look at your playstyle before blaming it solely on the DM. But if enough players are feeling similar, i'd suggest you find a new DM.